Victoria – As wildfires continue to destroy property and force residents from their homes in Rock Creek and Oliver, BC Liquor Store customers can now support Red Cross relief efforts for fire victims by donating in stores throughout the province.
To help those impacted by wildfires, the Red Cross asked BC Liquor Stores to join their relief efforts. This includes providing evacuees with immediate needs such as blankets, food and water, reuniting residents with family members, and assisting with longer-term needs such as replacing equipment to return to work and helping with rent.
Customers can make donations of $2 or $5 – or multiples thereof – at checkouts in 196 BC Liquor Stores provincewide.
BC Liquor Stores customers and employees have supported Red Cross disaster relief for humanitarian crises at home and abroad since 2003, when stores first collected donations to support victims affected by catastrophic wildfires raging that summer in the province.
Quick Facts:
- Since a fire ignited in Rock Creek on Aug. 14, 2015, hundreds of people in the Rock Creek and Oliver communities have been evacuated – and more than 30 homes destroyed.
- An unusually warm summer has left B.C. forests extremely dry, and officials are concerned there is potential for more aggressive wildfire activity in these communities and others throughout the province.
- As of Aug. 16, 2015, the province has battled more than 1,600 wildfires this year.
- Since 2010, BC Liquor Stores have collected more than $1.9 million for Red Cross disaster relief efforts at home and abroad, including $208,000 earlier this year for Nepal earthquake relief.
- The last time the Red Cross activated a disaster relief fund in B.C. was in 2003, during one of the province’s most devastating wildfire seasons on record.
